A foreign revolution: do women need protests in Iran
The other day in Iran ended anti-government speeches, never transformed into a revolution. Iranians went on strike against food prices, unemployment (among young people, it is at least 24%), corruption and high spending on foreign policy - not everyone has arranged for President Hassan Rouhani’s course.
The protests began the day before the New Year, exactly at the same time a video appeared on the Web with a girl who, standing on a dais, attached a handkerchief to a long stick and brandished it as a flag. The video was immediately published by Western publications, and on Twitter they launched the hashtag #IStandWithHer. The story was also picked up by the new American right-wisely comparing the “real” feminist from Iran, who took off her headscarf in protest, and Western activists, who insist that the covered head is not always considered as a symbol of oppression.
True, a couple of days later it turned out that the girl’s deed had nothing to do with the recent protests. She turned out to be one of the participants of the movement “My Secret Freedom” (My Stealthy Freedom), who hold such actions every Wednesday and post photos under the hashtag #WhiteWednesday.
Nezhensky protest
This misunderstanding well illustrates that what was happening in Iran was perceived rather one-dimensional. However, the protests were at least heterogeneous: slogans of an exclusively economic nature flashed in the crowd, and calls for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, and most of the activists were young men from provincial cities.
Dissatisfied with unemployment and growing social stratification, the first to go out were residents of the city of Mashhad, the homeland of the current top leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. All this time there were rumors that the conservatives had started the protests. At one time, they even reported about the arrest of the previous Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was allegedly detained after the ultra-conservative politician expressed support for the protesters.
It turned out that the girl’s deed had nothing to do with recent protests. She turned out to be one of the participants in the movement "My Stolen Freedom" who hold such actions every Wednesday
The protests have not gained much popularity in Tehran, where the middle class and supporters of integration with the West are concentrated. It was they who voted for Rouhani in 2013, whose reforms allowed to remove part of the sanctions from Iran and led to the liberalization of women's rights - for example, they were no longer arrested for violating the dress code (though only in the capital) instead of detaining them conversations). Rouhani was perceived as an unconditionally progressive president in comparison with his predecessor Ahmadinejad, against whom the Iranians took to the streets in 2009 (then, unlike in 2018, the protests were clearly liberal in nature). And there is no guarantee that the current discontent will not reverse the slow process of emancipation.
Fundamentalism instead of freedom
In 2007, the animated film "Persepolis" based on the biographical novel of the same name Marzhan Satrapi was released, deservedly noted in Cannes and is still considered a visual aid on the history of women's rights in Iran from the 70s to the present. The main character grew up in an intelligent family with distinct sympathies for Marxism and secularism - her family enthusiastically supported the revolution, but instead of equality and freedoms they received a rollback to traditional values and religious dictatorship.
In principle, this clearly describes the paradox of the main Iranian revolution. Since 1925, the country was ruled by the royal Pahlavi dynasty, fairly secular and progressive, while demonstratively loyal to Western states.
In 1979, women, who were not yet constrained by numerous restrictions, played a large role in the revolution: many of them did not understand what the changes were threatening, others were ready to live by the new rules
When, at the end of the 1970s, religious fundamentalists led by Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini intercepted the revolutionary initiative, which rested on independence from the West, a strict identity under the auspices of Islam and reliance on the not too educated working class, the country enthusiastically adopted a new course. Iran has become a country where the desire to get rid of "Western hegemony" led to the dictatorship of fundamentalists. In 1979, women, who were not yet constrained by numerous restrictions, played an important role in the revolution: many of them did not understand what they were threatened with, others were ready to live by the new rules.
One of the supporters of the revolution in those years was Shirin Ebadi - a well-known human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In 1979, she was a judge, actively supported the protests, held under the slogan "Independence and Freedom". “A couple of months after the coup, they came to me and said that I can no longer work as a judge, because this is contrary to the Sharia,” Ebadi later told.
The new authorities legalized polygamy again, imposed a ban on divorce at the initiative of the woman, a strict dress code (before that women could dress as they wanted), restricted the rights to movement and protection in cases of sexual violence.
Who is your friend
Why the changes after the revolution of the 70s were not interpreted as a definite reduction of opportunities? The power of the Pahlavi dynasty and its freedoms were perceived in the country as alien, imposed from the outside, according to sociologist Roxana Baramitash. Women did have the right to go to schools, universities and work without special restrictions, but not all families allowed girls to get an education and live life to the fullest, so many of them remained illiterate until fundamentalists came to power. Liberal freedoms were mainly enjoyed by women from the middle class and rich families.
Having won a political victory, Khomeini announced several conditional “jihad” - one of them was the fight against illiteracy. Women from conservative families were given the opportunity to study in mosques and schools without meeting opposition. If earlier education was perceived as a pernicious western trend (especially if it was received by women), Khomeini’s initiatives were considered decisions of a wise ruler. In addition, primary education was free and everyone got access to it.
Despite the fact that there was a conservative turn in the country, the number of working women in 1975 was six percent less than in 1998.
Women already make up the majority of students in universities in Iran - a trend generally characteristic of countries with a disastrous situation with gender equality, for example, for the same Saudi Arabia
Social guarantees since the time of Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini (died in 1989, Khamenei was elected Iran’s Supreme Leader) became noticeably less - his populist rhetoric was based not only on reverence for Sharia, but also on increasing social benefits and benefits. It is possible that more and more women began to go to work because of the unstable economic situation.
The awareness of Iranian women is growing - the evidence is the same video with the hijab instead of the flag; it did not refer to general protests, but to an independent movement for rights. Women already make up the majority of students in universities in Iran - a trend generally characteristic of countries with a disastrous situation with gender equality, for example, for the same Saudi Arabia.
Moreover, not any revolution in Islamic countries is women’s freedom and equality - it’s enough to remember the level of sexual violence in Tahrir Square and the disregard for women after the Arab Spring: they were not allowed to draw up a constitution and were more than modestly represented in parliament.
Photo:Getty Images (1, 2, 3)
